Other Years

2020
March 2: I put seeds on a wet paper serviette.
17: I put 36 sprouts into 18 cells a few days ago and today I put 18 more into 9 more cells. The initial sprouts had medium length stems, and today's had long stems.
April 25: I finished dividing and transplanting my seedlings, of which there are many. Most are in cells but some are in styrofoam cups.
May 27: I set out about half of my cells around the edge of the raised bed.
 
2016
April 3: I put all the remaing seeds on a wet coffee filter.
8: 3 germinating seeds, I think. I put them in soil in cells.
10: Several more germinating seeds. I now have 18 cells with germinated seeds in them.
12: Another 9 cells. None of the earlier ones are showing sprouts above the soil.
24: Doing fine in their cells.
 
2015
April 2: I put new seeds in water.
December 31: I had a few plants.
 
2014
April 5: I put a sprinkling of new seeds on a moist paper towel.
11: I moved 6 sprouted seeds into soil.
12: I moved 12 more sprouted seeds into soil in a 6-pak.
June 19: My small plants are set out around the north edge of the raised bed.
July 31: Doing fine.
 
2013
April 28: I soaked my remaing seeds, about 20 of them.
April 30: I put the soaked seeds on moist paper towelling.
May 10: I found 9 sprouted seeds and planted them shallowly in cells.
June 22: I set out 6 plants.
September 23: They are still doing well.
 
2012
March 24: I seeded 6 cells with soaked seeds. I soaked seeds weeks earlier but never got them planted.
September 17: One plant grew to a medium size; that is all.
 
2011
March 27: I put seeds in water to soak.
28: I seeded 6 cells.
May 23: I set out my 6 seedlings.
 
2010
February 28: I put about 40 seeds in water to soak.
March 11: 2 sprouts.
29: Thinned. There were about 27 seedlings altogether.
April 29: I set out 5 plants.
May 8: Doing fine.
May 16: I set the last 3 seedlings.
June 17: Coming along.
July 2: Coming along slowly.
 
2009
February 17: I put about 27 seeds in water in a warm place to begin germination.
18: I planted them.
~26: Sprouts.
April 4: I have 9 seedlings in 9 cells.
May 22: I set out 9 plants, half very small.
July 4: The small ones died but the remaining plants are coming along fine.
August 3: Doing very well.
 
2008
February 6: I put my last seeds, about 30 in number, into water to soak. I don't expect good germination as the seeds are a couple of years old and parsley seeds do not seem to remain viable.
8: I transferred them onto wet tissue.
10: I transferred them into vermiculite.
20: Many sprouts.
March 4: I transplanted 18 into cells.
April 4: As the snow melts, it has revealed new growth on the parsley, but I don't expect the parsley to survive.
May 2: I set 9 plants out.
3: Frost last night. They look frozen this morning.
6: They have clearly been damaged by several nights of frost, and I can't tell if they will survive or not.
10: I thought they were dead but today I see that they are all sending out new leaves from their bases.
14: I set out my final 5.
May 24: One of last year's plants has over-wintered and is sending out new growth!
December 31: The over-wintered plant did not amount to much. It seemed to be concentrating its energy towards seeding. The other plants gave a good crop.
 
2007
March 20: I put about 30 seeds in water to soak overnight.
March 21: I transferred them to vermiculite.
May 1: I have 9 seedlings in a 9-pak, and more still in vermiculite.
5: I put 8 seedlings from the vermiculite into the garden.
12: 7 of those are still growing. I took 8 seedlings from the pak to the garage sale. I brought 4 back. They did not sell well.
21: I set out 2 more larger plants that had been in a pak.
June 16: Flourishing.
 
2006
February 2: I sprinkled seeds into a peat and vermiculite mix in two small tubs.
12:15 sprouts.
14:45 sprouts now.
March 9:I have about 45 cells now, and still a tub of sprouts. Today I gave then a little fertilizer and iron chelates, as a couple were yellow.
April 2: The snow has melted and revealed the green leaves of last year that did not get harvested.
29: I transferred some plants into styrofoam cups. Some have very small root systems and some have medium size ones. They are growing in soil that I believe has something wrong with it (see General), so I removed as much of the suspect soil as I could as I transferred them.
30: I finished transferring the sprouts.
May 13: I took my extra plants to the garage sale and brought 12 back after.
17: I set 3 plants out.
28: I saw a black swallowtail butterfly laying eggs on my plants, so I set out 3 more.
June 21: The resulting caterpillars have eaten almost all of the parsley. I transferred most of the caterpillars onto dill plants.
August 1: Doing well. They are all getting irrigated water.
 
2005
January 23:  I bought a package of moss curled parsley at Safeway for 35 cents.
25:  I planted 40 seeds about 0.5 cm deep in sterilized soil mix and put 80 seeds in water to soak.
26:  I planted the 80 seeds in a tub of soil mix.
February 5:  18 sprouts from the first batch, and 1 from the second.
11:  I transplanted 15 sprouts from the first batch into 6-paks.
12:  More transplanting. Another 19 sprouts from the first batch with none remaining, and 16 sprouts from the second pak with 56 sprouts remaining, into 9-paks. That gives germination ratios of 34/40 and 72/80, certainly a record for me! I expect the difference is that my seed was fresh this year. I dipped the bare roots of some sprouts into Tarantula brand bacteria and fungus mix and labelled those 9-paks "PT".
March 5:  I now have 82 plants. Almost all are doing fine, except a few that dried out on their 2nd day. The plants that got Tarantula mix are perhaps a little smaller than the others.
28:  Now all plants are in small styrofoam cups. I discarded one small one.
May 7:  I donated all but 4 to a garage sale, but the day was very rainy and most did not sell, and I have them back.
June 24:  I planted 5 plants near the roses last month, and today I found five black swallowtail caterpillars on them.
July 27:  Flourishing.
October 4:  Still flourishing. One plant has flowered.
 
2004
Jan 31:  I put 40 seeds of Forest Green and 40 seeds of Moss Curled in separate jars of water to soak.   I also put 40 seeds of Moss Curled in an 1% solution of hydrogen peroxide to see if they germinate and grow there.
Feb 1:  I planted the seeds in boiled starter mix above soil, 40 seeds in each of 2 9-paks.   A few of the Forest Green seeds had sprouted.
11:  No sprouts.   I put about 100 seeds in a tub into the warming box at a high temperature to see it they will sprout there.
17:  3 Forest Green sprouts from the original cells.
March 1:  There are now 4 sprouts from the original cells, and, today, 1 more from the tub.
7:  I put the rest of my seeds in water in the refrigerator.
21:  I transferred them into soil.
27:  I put the seeds from the peroxide in soil.   There appears to be one sprout floating in the solution about to bring its cotyledons out of the seed coat, but there is no sign of other growth.
April 12:  I transferred my 7 plants into styrofoam cups.
May 7:  I took 3 plants to the garage sale.
21:  I set 4 plants out.
July 30:  Flourishing.
 
2003
January 1:  I put about 80 seeds in a paper towel roll to germinate.
7:  About 20 seeds seemed to have sprouted.   I put them on soil and under vermiculite.
24:  I have been putting sprouted seeds into soil, but with little success.   I have 5 plants now.   I started another 9 cells today, with about 40 seeds in each cell, half of each type.   The starting mixture is soil with much peat and some sand.
February 5:  4 sprouts.
14:  The seeds sprouted in a very irregular pattern.   I have transplanted most of them, leaving 6 cells to maybe sprout more.   I have 18 plants now.
March 13:  I put 15 plants into Styrofoam cups.   This leaves 9 plants in cells.
22:  I put those 9 into cups too.
May 4:  I set out 2 plants.
7:  I set out 2 more plants.
8:  And 2 more.
9:  I took the rest of the plants to the resource centre garage sale.
July 5:  Flourishing in the garden.
September 1:  Still doing fine.
October 18:  William harvested the plants and I chopped it to give about 10 cups of chopped parsley for the freezer.
 
2002
February 16: I soaked 18 seeds overnight, 9 Forest Green and 9 of a generic moss-curled variety.
February 17: I planted the seeds in a 9-pak, and put it in the basement.
March 10: No sprouts, so I moved the 9-pak upstairs, where it is warmer.
12: 1 sprout.
May 28: I set my 2 plants out.
July 24:  They're coming along.
September 7:  Doing well.
 
2001
January 7: None this year.
 
2000
January 29: I put 54 seeds of Forest Green variety in water to soak overnight.
30: I planted them in 2 9-paks, 3 seeds per cell.
February 13: No sprouts. I put many seeds in vermiculite to try again. The seed package says "Use by 1998". Maybe parsley seeds do not keep.
20: I planted some more seeds, from a new package that I bought at McDiarmid Lumber for 20 cents, of a moss curled variety. I put about 7 seeds in each of 9 cells.
26: 2 sprouts from the vermiculite batch.
27: There are now 8 sprouts in the vermiculite batch.
28: I transferred 9 sprouts from the vermiculite batch to the original 9-pak. There are more sprouts in the vermiculite now.
March 3: 3 sprouts from the new batch.
16: I gave one 9-pak of Forest Green to Joan.
18: I transferred 9 more Forest Green sprouts from the vermiculite to a 9-pak. There are 13 seedlings in the 9-pak from the new seeds.
May 12: Picked up for the sale. Most of them are now in Styrofoam cups. The ones put into soil early are a good size; the ones left in vermiculite are too small to sell well. The Forest Green plants clearly have a flat leaf when compared to the plants from the new package.
19: I set out 2 plants, both Forest Green.
20: Mulched with grass clippings.
June 15: I set 7 plants out around the clematis.
July 8: All plants are doing well.
August 8: The garden plants are flourishing. The ones by the clematis are just coming along.
September: I harvested the plants, and chopped them.
October 4: Frost last night, but the ones by the clematis look fine.
 
1999
February 25: I planted my parsley today, 9 cells, using seed from the package of Forest Green seeds I purchased about 2 years ago. It is Italian parsley, Petroselinum crispum latifolium 'Forest Green', strong flavoured, and not very curly.
March 8: One seedling was visible in the morning.
9: Still only one seedling.
12: Five seedlings now.
18: I resowed the empty cells.
April 17: Eight seedlings now.
24: I discovered today on the internet, that soaking the seeds overnight is recommended by Dr. Leonard Perry, in his lecture notes, and it sounds like a good idea.
May 8: I set 3 plants out. That leaves 2 plants for Jennifer and 2 for Garry.
June 30: Flourishing.
August 3 & 31: Flourishing nicely.
September 15: I harvested all 3 plants.
30: They are sending up new growth, but they will not likely survive the winter.
November 21: The plants are still alive.
 
1998
February 14: Started 1 6-pak, 2 seeds per cell.
28: 3 sprouts.
April 9: 6 plants, from more seeds, I think.
June 1: 2 garden plants, doing fine.
 
1997
March 17: 5 6-paks started, mostly for garage sale.
27: First sprouts.
May 3: Repotted into 6-paks, mostly, with basil and garlic chives.
26: 2 set out.
August 7: Growing well.